An autonomous drone for filming extreme sports has smashed its $50,000 (£30,000) Kickstarter target in less than 24 hours, raising over $250,000 (£147,000) at the time of writing.
Hexo+, an intelligent hexacopter that tracks you while maintaining a fixed distance, height and angle, is intended to make aerial filming as simple as tapping your smartphone. "It's very exciting," Squadrone System CEO Antoine Level tells Wired.co.uk about surpassing the fundraising target. They have begun thinking about the technology's application for aerial filmmaking beyond extreme sports, he says, adding "but I can't say more right now".
An electrical engineer, Level says the Hexo+ project arose in the summer of 2013 from a desire to make aerial drone filming easier for non-experts. "[With Hexo+] you don't need to care about how to pilot the drone or how to control the camera, you can just focus on your actions."
Users simply frame their shot using the Hexa+ app before they set off -- the drone automatically takes off and starts filming from that position.
When users start sprinting, in one example shown in the Kickstarter video, the drone follows and maintains the shot, using the subject's phone as a tracking beacon.
[Html##<iframe height="360" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sqdr/hexo-your-autonomous-aerial-camera/widget/video.html" frameborder="0" scrolling="no">
</iframe>##KeepInline##Id¬1lympu] "Personally I'm not a very good drone pilot, so when I'm using my own drone I don't get very good images," admits Level, in the admirable tradition of inventors who have built tools as much for themselves as others.
Intended for use with a GoPro camera, the Hexa+ can reportedly maintain speeds of 70km/h, has a 15 minute battery life and can film from up to 50 metres away from your position. It will also have a manual mode if the user prefers.
The project has backing from an impressive array of pros, including French snowboarder Xavier De Le Rue, Swiss motocross rider Mat Rebeaud and filmmaker Renan Ozturk, and costs $599 (£350) via Kickstarter.
The retail price is planned to be $899 (£530) and the first shipments for Kickstarter backers are expected in May 2015.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
